Skip to main content
Guides

Credit Card Promotions

6 min read

That 0% balance transfer doesn't last forever. If you're not tracking when promotional rates expire and where your payments go, you risk a sudden jump in interest charges. Doughsense helps you stay ahead by tracking promotional segments, managing transfer offers, and showing exactly how your payments are allocated. This guide builds on the portfolio concepts in Managing Your Finances.

Understanding Promotional Rates

What are Promotional Rates?

Promotional rates are special interest rates applied to portions of your credit card debt for a limited time. Common examples include:

  • 0% APR on purchases - New purchases don't accrue interest for 12-18 months
  • 0% balance transfers - Transferred balances have no interest for 12-21 months
  • Reduced rate offers - Temporary lower rates like 2.9% for 6 months

Why Track Them Separately?

Credit cards apply different interest rates to different portions of your balance. By tracking promotional segments separately, Doughsense can:

  • Calculate accurate interest charges in projections
  • Alert you before promotional rates expire
  • Show how each payment would be allocated across segments
  • Compare the transfer offers you track by their effective APR

Adding Promotional Segments

Step 1: Navigate to Your Credit Card

  1. Go to Wealth in the sidebar
  2. Find your credit card in the Liabilities section
  3. Click on the card to edit it

Step 2: Add Promotional Rates

  1. Expand the Promotional Rates section
  2. Click Add Promotional Balance
  3. Enter the following details:
    • Amount: The balance at this promotional rate
    • Rate: The promotional interest rate (e.g., 0% for 0% APR)
    • Expires: The date when the promotional rate ends
    • Description: Optional note (e.g., "Balance transfer from Visa")
  4. Click Save

Example: Setting Up a New Card

If you've just opened a card with a £3,000 balance transfer at 0% for 18 months:

  1. Total Balance: £3,000
  2. Add Promotional Segment:
    • Amount: £3,000
    • Rate: 0%
    • Expires: 18 months from today
    • Description: "Initial balance transfer"

The card will show:

  • Standard Balance: £0 (at regular APR)
  • Promotional Balance: £3,000 (at 0%)

Understanding Payment Allocation

How Payments are Applied

When you make a payment to a credit card with promotional segments, Doughsense follows industry-standard allocation rules:

  1. Standard balance first - Payments reduce the highest-rate balance first
  2. Promotional segments by expiry - Then applied to promotional balances expiring soonest
  3. Remaining promotional segments - Finally to other promotional balances

Example Payment Waterfall

Consider a card with:

  • £2,000 standard balance at 24% APR
  • £1,500 promotional balance expiring March (0%)
  • £1,000 promotional balance expiring June (0%)

A £2,500 payment would be applied:

  1. £2,000 to standard balance → £0 remaining
  2. £500 to March promotional → £1,000 remaining
  3. June promotional unchanged → £1,000 remaining

New balance: £2,000 (all at 0% APR)

Managing Balance Transfer Offers

Adding Transfer Offers

Track the balance transfer offers you receive so Doughsense can compare what each would change:

  1. Edit your credit card in the Wealth section
  2. Expand the Balance Transfer Offers section
  3. Click Add Transfer Offer
  4. Enter offer details:
    • Available Amount: Credit limit for transfers
    • Promotional Rate: The offer rate (usually 0%)
    • Period: How many months the rate lasts
    • Transfer Fee: Percentage fee (typically 2-3%)
    • Received Date: When you got the offer
    • Expiry Date: When the offer expires
    • Transfer Type: Balance Transfer or Money Transfer
    • Excluded Cards: Cards you can't transfer from

Transfer Types Explained

  • Balance Transfer: Direct transfer from another credit card
  • Money Transfer: Cash advance to your bank account (usually higher fees)

Tracking Exclusions

Some offers exclude transfers from cards issued by the same bank. Add these exclusions so the transfer comparison only includes moves your offers allow.

Watching Your Blended Rate

The Weighted APR Metric

The Weighted APR metric in Insights shows the single blended rate your debt really costs: annualised interest divided by total balance, across every liability and its promotional segments. Because the projection knows each promotional expiry date, you can see the blended rate rise ahead of time as segments revert to standard rates.

Applicable Offers

Each liability's breakdown on the metric page lists the refinancing offers you have tracked that could apply to it, balance transfers and remortgages alike, alongside each offer's effective APR and what your overall weighted APR would be if that offer were used on its own. The fee is part of an offer's effective rate, so offers read like for like. Your timeline projections carry the full picture: the projection with a transfer in place beside the projection without it.

Staying on Top of Promotions

  1. Set calendar reminders 60 days before any promotional rate expires
  2. Check for new transfer offers each month
  3. Standard balances carry the highest rates, and the payment waterfall sends payments there first
  4. Allow 2-3 weeks for balance transfers to complete
  5. An offer's effective APR includes its fee, so offers compare like for like against the interest at stake

When a Transfer Changes the Projection

A balance transfer moves the numbers when:

  • A promotional rate expires in the next 30-60 days, so the balance is about to accrue at the standard rate
  • A transfer offer with available capacity exists to receive it
  • The transfer fee is less than the interest the balance would otherwise accrue
  • The balance would clear within the new promotional period, leaving no standard-rate tail

Projections with Promotional Rates

How Projections Work

Your financial projections accurately model promotional rates:

  1. Interest Calculations: Each segment accrues interest at its own rate (promotional segments typically 0%)
  2. Promotional Expiry: Automatically transitions expired segments to standard rate
  3. Payment Allocation: Follows the payment waterfall (standard first, then promotional by expiry)

What the Projection Carries

  • Promotional expiry: rates revert to standard on the recorded date, and the projected interest reflects it
  • Payoff: when each segment clears under the payment waterfall
  • Offer expiry: each tracked offer carries its expiry date, and a lapsed offer drops out of the applicable list

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Promotional segments exceed total balance

  • Ensure promotional amounts sum to less than or equal to total balance
  • The difference becomes your standard balance

Offers not appearing in the breakdown

  • Check that transfer offers are marked as "Available"
  • Ensure offer expiry dates haven't passed
  • Verify excluded cards are correctly set

Interest still showing on 0% balance

  • Confirm promotional segments are correctly entered
  • Check the expiry date hasn't passed
  • Verify total promotional amount doesn't exceed balance

Getting Help

If something doesn't look right, start by checking your promotional segment setup and verifying your transfer offer details match what your lender sent. For anything else, reach out to support via the user menu in the sidebar.

What's Next?

Try it in Doughsense

Put this guide into practice with your own finances.

Request early access

Related guides

AI AssistUse natural language to manage your finances. Ask questions, make changes, and get insights with AI Assist. Delete Your AccountHow to permanently delete your Doughsense account and all associated financial data. Includes data retention policy and account recovery information. See Your Financial FutureUse the timeline to project your financial future, run scenarios, and track progress towards your goals.